


Ghostwriter

by Acecreatesthings



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-17 11:16:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17559344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acecreatesthings/pseuds/Acecreatesthings
Summary: A chronicler is not a necessity on the Starblaster.But Lucretia was never good at taking no for an answer.(Magnus, as it turned out, was too good at being superstitious.)





	1. A Series of Mistakes

She couldn’t believe it. 

“What do you mean you won’t accept me?” Lucretia said, “I have a 4.0 GPA. I’ve ghostwritten  _ several _ books. I’m experienced in several classes. I’m more than qualified to chronicle this trip!”

She adjusted her glasses, which nearly fell off her face in all the commotion. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She’d spent  _ years  _ taking notes. It was clear that she was more than qualified for this job.

“Miss Lucretia.” Her interviewer started with a heavy sigh. As soon as he opened his mouth, Lucretia could hear the malice dripping from his words. This wasn’t going to end well for her. He wasn’t even the captain; he couldn’t help her. She needed to-- 

“We have no need for a chronicler.” The world came crashing down on her and she blinked as if trying to wake herself from what she hoped was just a horrible nightmare.

“Wait.. _ what _ ?” The combination of confusion, desperation, and outright anger was noticeable in her voice. Her body was tense and she felt her throat tighten up as she forced the words out.  _ Spat _ them out at the man. 

“Captain Davenport and his crew are more than capable of writing down their own discoveries. Perhaps you can interview them when they return?” He replied, leaning back in his chair slightly with a smirk on his face.

“N-No!” Lucretia stood up, shaking her head vigorously. “I’m not a journalist, Mr. Grimmauldis! I’m a storyteller! And right now, you’re stopping me from telling the best story in all of history!”  

“The answer is no. Your services are simply not required, Miss Lucretia.”

“If I could just talk to Captain Davenport--”

“NO!” Mr. Grimmauldis stood up, slamming his hands down onto his desk. “I’ve given you the IPRE’s answer. Now get out of my office.” He snapped, pointing towards the open door. Lucretia clenched her fists and stormed out, muttering archaic Tosun curses under her breath.

“Fine.” She sighed, glancing back at the imposing, solid steel building with its large, bright red letters spelling out “I.P.R.E”. It loomed over her as if it was mocking her after the colossal failure with Mr. Grimmauldis. Finally, she turned back and looked towards the road. “If you can’t help me, then I’ll find Captain Davenport and talk to him myself,” Lucretia muttered to herself.

She made her way down the road, away from the IPRE headquarters. It wasn’t long until she got to the main part of town, which was where many of the companies’ employees spent time after a long day’s work. Eventually, she managed to find the Starblaster crew at a bar, mostly by chance. She stuck one of her pens in her mouth chewing on the end of it as she watched them. She was nervous, no clue how they would react or how she would even begin to approach them. Ideally one of them would be able to help her get into the Starblaster program, even if it meant going behind Mr. Grimmauldis’ back. She followed the familiar forms from the conference into the small bar, hoping to Pan Davenport was with them.

When she made her way into the bar, Lucretia looked around, scanning the clientele. His was not one of them.  _ Fuck _ . Maybe she could at least talk to one of the crew members. Merle Highchurch was one of the higher-ranking crew members, as well as the most approachable. She took a seat a few chairs away from him and ordered water before starting to write in her journal. Now she just needed to figure out how to start a conversation. 

“ _ Hey! _ ” 

And there was a fight breaking out because of her.  _ Double  _ fuck. 

“Hey, come this way.” Merle Highchurch, dwarf and cleric of the crew, guided her behind the counter. This was her chance if she could just --

“Sorry, I was just writing--” She stammered. 

“Not your fault,” he said before climbing up onto the counter, not letting her get another word in.  _ Gods above, why wouldn’t anyone let her talk? _  As he climbed up, she noticed that a card fell out of his pocket. It was...an access key.  _ Nice. _

Lucretia felt guilty as she watched Merle wander off, staring at the card. Theft wouldn’t exactly make a good impression, but at this point, she was willing to do almost anything to join the crew. She sighed and slid the card into her pocket.  _ Pan watch over me _ .

She quickly left the bar, heading back for the main building where she had her interview. Once there, Lucretia mumbled a silent prayer of thanks for those good, good Stealth rolls that let her sneak into the first checkpoint. Then, she used Merle’s access key to swipe through it and grinned with delight as it turned green. She entered inside and carefully moved forward.  _ Okay. Where would she find Davenport? What would she even say to him?  _

“They're at a bar.” A voice pierces through the quiet, causing Lucretia to plaster herself to the closest wall.

“Davenport didn’t go with them?” The other voice replied. A pair of guards.  _ Shit. Okay, worry about making Davenport interview her later. _ She stayed out of sight.

“Nah, he’s staying on the Starblaster.”  _ Fuck, they were coming closer. _ She fumbled with the access key again before sneaking through a doorway that led to…the Starblaster.  _ Finally _ .  _ All of this might actually be worth it, after all _ . The bay doors on the ceiling were open, revealing the stars of the night sky. Lucretia’s throat tightened. She wanted to be out there; she  _ had _ to. Every fiber of her being needed to be on this trip. 

She heard the sound of the guards moving towards the door and sprinted for the ship. _They said Davenport would be on the ship. Now, where?_ As she made her way through the ship, she found a door leading below deck to what looked like a hallway with a series of rooms, the entrance to the common area directly on the right, the kitchen directly to the left. Lucretia continued to silently make her way down the hall. Though she was disappointed to find no signs of life, she gripped her bag and made her way down the stairs further. 

“Hello? Captain Davenport?” She whispered in a hushed tone of voice as she found herself in a small room, which seemed to have the supplies for the 2-month journey.  “My name is--” 

The door slammed behind her and she heard the muffled sound of someone walking away.

“Everything should be set for tomorrow!”

Well. 

_ Shit.  _

Lucretia scrambled. She needed a place to hide, and fast.  _ But where? _ She quickly took in the room and scrambled for the vents as soon as she spotted them. It wasn’t the best option, but there was nothing else. Lucretia had to get on her hands and knees, but she managed to get the vents open. However, once she was in, she discovered that they locked from the outside. She could crawl around all she wanted, but the only vent that she was getting out from was the one in the supply room. 

After several long minutes of painful crawling, Lucretia found a stretch of vents underneath the kitchen where she could curl up. It wasn’t perfect, but it was comfy. She didn’t remember falling asleep. She certainly remembered waking up, though. The ship was rolling around and she smacked her head against the edge of the vents. 

“Captain!” That was Magnus. What-- 

She felt the ship lurch and her stomach dropped with it in realization. She snuck onto the ship. She  _ snuck onto the ship and didn’t tell her family.  _ **_She snuck onto the ship and was most certainly going to jail_ ** . 

“Captain, go back!!”   
“I’ve TRIED!” Davenport yelled. “We can’t, so we might as well see where we’ve ended up.” 

“Why is everything that happened in the past 24 hours such hell,” she said.

Someone stopped moving, and Magnus whispered and heard someone stop moving from...somewhere. “Who said that?” Lucretia clamped her mouth shut. After a long moment, she was certain he would forget about it; instead, she heard him run upstairs. 

“GUYS, I THINK THE SHIP IS HAUNTED!!” Lucretia tensed and heard the heavy fighter bound up the stairs and paused, thinking over her situation carefully. 

“Haunted, huh?” She listened to the twins quickly dismiss Magnus’s theory. “I can play ghost,” Lucretia said.


	2. Casper the Friendly Lucretia

The first thing Lucretia did was figure out what she was going to eat. Considering her exit was in the storage room? Not a problem. After about a week, she had a grasp on everyone’s sleeping schedule and managed to get into the bathroom so she could shower and not smell like a rat’s ass. After one particularly close call with Magnus, she opened up the vent in the bathroom so she could get in and out quickly. 

Lup had pads, so when she got her period she was set. It was a hassle, trying to sneak around without being spotted, but Lucretia was basically nocturnal anyway. The elves were a bit of an issue, but after the first week, they stopped staying up all night. Merle and Davenport left early on, which confused her. But, that meant fewer people to catch her. 

_ So my options are: Stay in the vents until they get back. _ She made a face at her journal. Could she keep this up for two months?  _ Or get caught, and more than likely get sent to jail. _ She sighed and adjusted her glasses. She should at least  _ try _ to avoid a criminal record. 

“Guys I’m telling you I KEEP _ HEARING _ STUFF!” Magnus said. “Please don’t leave me alone on the ship.” Lucretia closed her journal and listened intently. 

“You’ll be  _ fine, _ ” Taako said dismissively. “Stop being a baby.” 

“But Taako,” Lup said. “He  _ is _ a baby.” 

“Oh…” Taako paused. “True.” 

“You guys do know he’s twenty, right?” Barry said. “He’s not an infant.” Lucretia heard the elves gasp. 

“Oh my gods, he’s younger than we thought,” Lup said. She paused. “Okay. I’ll stay here with our local baby. You and Barry go out and see what you can find.” 

Taako pouted, “How come I get nerd duty?”   
“Because I’m on babysitting duty, babe,” Lup said.

“Fiiiinnnneee,” Taako groaned, “Let’s go, Barold.” 

*****

Something wasn’t right. The ship was too quiet. It had only been 20 minutes since Taako left, and Lup and Magnus were the loudest members of the crew. Why was it so quiet?

“Are you sure this will work?” Oh, they were in the lab.

“Trust me, Magnus. If there’s a ghost on this ship a ouija board is the best--“ 

Lucretia  _ refused  _ to stay silent at that. Her mouth moved before she could even think about it, years of scolding her younger siblings all leading up to this.  “DO NOT USE A  _ OUIJA BOARD.  _ Are you absolutely  _ INSANE _ ?” She yelled. 

The entire ship went silent. Lucretia quickly covered her mouth. She shouldn’t have said anything. It was bold, and a horrible idea. Now she was more likely to be found.

“Lup?

“Yeah, Magnus?”

“You heard that too, right?”

“Yeah, Magnus.” 

“What do we do?”

In for a penny, in for a pound. “You’re going to summon an actual poltergeist! What could  _ POSSIBLY _ make you think that was a good idea???” 

“You?” Magnus sputtered in disbelief and Lucretia hesitated trying to form a good answer.

“I-“

“Listen, Casper, you’ve been quiet, but we’ve noticed you. You turn on the showers,”

“I turn them  _ off! _ ” Lucretia protested.

“And steal food and clothes...” Okay, she didn’t have a good excuse for that.

“I thought I was being sneaky!” Lucretia said, and Lup laughed. 

“Well, then you’re  _ really  _ bad at it,” Lup replied.

“You’re a ghost anyway, why do you want clothes?” Magnus said.

“Magnus!” Lup said. “Be careful! She could go poltergeist!”

“I’m not going to murder you all!” Lucretia said. “I don’t even think I could...” 

“What’s your name?” Magnus asked and Lucretia hesitated. Should she tell them? What if one of them recognized it? She was pushing her luck by just  _ talking _ to them. 

“Or we could just keep calling you Casper?” Lup offered.

“I’m okay with that.” 

“Why are you here?” Magnus was just full of questions, clearly had been wanting to ask them for  _ weeks _ .  “How did you die? Where are you from? Are you a talking animal?”

“Magnus!” Lup hissed.

“A  _ what? _ ” Lucretia sputtered. “Animals can’t talk.” 

“Well apparently here, they can,” Lup said. “We’ve been trying to find someone to teach us the language.”

“You found a plane where animals can  _ talk _ ?” Lucretia said. “What plane are we on? Have you contacted home base yet?” The room went silent and Lucretia frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Uh. No, we haven’t contacted the base yet.” Lup sounded hesitant. Something was definitely off. But Lucretia was too interested in what the plane outside was like, and in her first conversation in weeks, to push it. 

“Can you tell me what it’s like out there? What kind of animals? Do they coexist with people?”

“No people here,” Magnus sounded disinterested. 

Lup chuckled. “You’re awfully interested in this.”

“Your crew is part of the biggest story in the universe. I want to make sure it gets told.” Lucretia let out a soft sigh. “Plus. It’s been… a while… since anyone’s talked to me.” 

“I can talk to you!” Magnus volunteered and Lup laughed again.

“Okay, Casper. What do you want to know?”

* * *

 

“A ghost?” Taako wrinkled his nose. “Lulu, you’re full of shit.”

“She’s really shy,” Lup said. “And doesn’t know. About home.” 

Taako looked off to the side, not acknowledging that. “Where is she now?”

“She said she was tired, so she stopped talking to us.” 

“Ghosts can’t get tired.”

“It takes a lot of energy to speak. So yeah. They can.”

“Okay, so a ghost,” Barry said, stirring his coffee. “What’s her name?”

“We’re calling her Casper,” Lup said. 

“And how’d she die?” Taako asked

Lup shrugged. “Not sure. Magnus asked but she avoided the question.”

“So what do we do about her? Get an exorcism?”

Lup laughed. “She’s a ghost, babe, not a  _ demon _ . If she hasn’t hurt anyone yet, I say we let her stick around.”

“She’s stealing our rations,” Taako grumbled.

“Taako, we have plenty. Especially if that mongoose family is willing to help us out.”

“Ghosts don’t need to eat.”

“Sometimes they  _ think _ they do.”

“Where does the food even GO?”

Lup shrugged. “Dunno. Look, Taako, I’m not asking you to make friends. Just… don’t aggravate her. Don’t tell her about home. And don’t ask her how she died.”

“Ugh, fine!” Taako threw his hands up in the air and pointed at Lup. “But I’m not telling the captain about this!”

* * *

 

Several weeks later, Davenport and Merle returned, and Merle took Magnus’s place as ship inhabitant while the others went… somewhere. 

Except something was wrong. Magnus and Lup had discovered her about a month into the journey, and according to her notes, it was now day 64. This was supposed to be a two-month journey. Why hadn’t they left yet? 

“Magnus?” She whispered into the vents and Lucretia tensed as she heard Barry chuckle. 

“Hey, Casper.” She didn’t talk to Barry very often. He always seemed nervous around her. “Magnus is out training with the power bear. What’s up?” 

“Is he okay?” She whispered.

Barry laughed softly. “Yeah don’t worry, he’s fine. It’s just training. He’s not actually fighting the power bear.” 

“He really wanted to.” 

“And it was a  _ bad _ idea.” Barry said, “But no, don’t worry. He’s fine, I promise.” 

“Okay…” Lucretia said, hesitating. 

“Is something else bothering you?” Barry said, “Do you want some food? I’ve got an apple.”   
“N-No, I’m fine I just…” She took a deep breath. “Why haven’t we returned home? I thought this trip was only supposed to last two months.” 

Barry was silent. “Barry?”   
“Research purposes. Don’t worry, we have plenty of supplies.” He said quickly. Too quickly. “I’ve gotta go. Make sure the engine is working.” Lucretia heard him walk away and frowned. That was a blatant dodge. 

*******

“Magnus, why haven’t we-” 

“Sorry Casper, I’ve got training with the power bear.” 

*******

“Lup-” Lup just responded in animal chittering. “Okay?”   
*********  
“Taako-” 

“Was it burning? Did you die building the ship? How long have you been dead for?”   
“Never mind.” 

******

That just left Merle and Davenport. Merle was strange but levelheaded. Davenport worried her. She didn’t want to be left on this new plane as punishment. And something about the way Davenport spoke made her suspect that that’s where she would end up. 

*******  
“Merle?” Lucretia whispered, and the dwarf started, almost dropping the potted echeveria he was holding.   
“Thought you’d never talk to me.” He said, setting the plant down. “What can I do for you, kiddo?” 

Lucretia took a deep breath.“Did something happen to the IPRE? The others won’t tell me. Why haven’t we gone back home?   
  


“Oh, that’s an easy one. We’re trying to get the Light from the Power bear and his pals.” Merle said. 

Lucretia frowned. “Why do they have the Light?” 

“We’re not sure,” Merle said. It didn’t seem like he was lying. 

“Is that what Magnus has been doing?” 

“Yeah, kinda,” Merle chuckled, and Lucretia heard a knock on his door before it opened. “Oh hey, Dav!” 

“Merle. Who the hell are you talking to?” 

“Casper just had a few questions about why we haven’t left yet. I think the rest of the crew were scaring her.” 

“Not you too.” Davenport groaned and Lucretia heard the door shut. 

Neither of them said anything for a long minute, until Merle asked, “Not a fan of the captain?” raising a bushy eyebrow at the ceiling. That must be where he thought she was. When in fact she was merely a few feet to the left peering out from the vents on the wall.

“He scares me.” She said. 

“He shouldn’t. Dav’s a big softy.” Merle said. 

“And I’m an unnecessary addition to the crew,” Lucretia murmured, not really meaning to be overheard. 

“But you  _ are _ part of the crew. Don’t forget that, Casper.” 

There was a beat of silence as Lucretia thought about this. 

“Thank you, Merle.” 

“Anytime, kiddo.” 

 

******

 

Time flew by quickly, after that. Lucretia found herself tired all the time. When she wasn’t sleeping, she was usually writing. Magnus would leave food out for her at night, and the rest of the crew had started to respect that night time was her time, so close calls happened less and less. 

Magnus and the others were gone almost all day every day, but Davenport insisted that at least one person remaining on the ship at a time. And apparently, “Magnus’s ghost pet doesn’t count,” which was just plain rude. 

Lucretia found herself responding to Casper as if it were her actual name, which was strange. But not unwelcome. 

One day, about a year after they landed on this plane,  _ everyone _ left the ship.

“Casper keep watch on the ship! We’ll be back.” Lup called and Lucretia chuckled

“Okay.” 

She managed to stay awake for about an hour before the boredom got to her. 

“HANG ON.” Lucretia snapped awake as the ship lurched backward.

“Where’s Magnus?” Davenport was shouting. 

“WE CAN’T WAIT, GO GO GO!” Taako shouted back and Lucretia yelped as she slid back through the vents. 

“Hang on Casper!” Lup shouted and the ship shot forward. 

“No. Wait-” Lucretia pulled herself up to her little nest in the center of the ship. Where everything echoed in and out. It wasn’t great for writing but she liked using it to scare people. “Where’s Magnus?” She yelled, uncaring that Davenport would hear her. No one answered. “Lup?” 

“I’m sorry Cas.” 

“No. No! Lup- we have to go back!” She crawled up to the vents near the bridge. “We can’t just leave him there!” The ship spun and she clamped her mouth shut as she smacked into the sides of the vents. “Stop!” She cried and then suddenly the world stopped. She felt every fabric of her entire body being ripped apart and stitched back together and  _ everything hurt --  _

When it finally stopped she was back inside her nest, and everything felt strange

“I’m not dead?” Magnus sounded shocked, “Cool.” 

“MAGNUS!” Lup shouted and Lucretia heard the crew tackle the man in a group hug. Lucretia almost abandoned the vents to do the same.

“Ow,” Magnus complained and Lup made a noise of concern. 

“That’s your black eye. The one you got fighting that idiot at the bar.” There was a beat of silence as everyone processed the information. Lucretia broke the silence. 

  
“What the _hell_ is going on?” 


	3. To Hide or Not To Hide

Lucretia questioned Magnus, and Lup and Barry spent a solid 24 hours in the science lab, and they all formed a few hypotheses. But it wasn’t until the Light fell on this plane that the crew finally came to the conclusion that this was some sort of loop. 

“Is it going to stop?” Taako asked.

“I don’t know,” Barry said. 

Magnus popped one of his hard candies in his mouth. “Is the not dying thing permanent?” 

“You did die dumbass. You just got reset. Like a game over;  now you have to start at the last save point.” Lup said. 

“These are all hypotheses. We don’t actually know what’s going on.” Davenport sounded tired. Lucretia wondered when he last slept. “We have to be careful here; we don’t want to cause trouble with the locals. And no one go dying to test this shit.” 

“Aww,” Magnus whined and Lucretia thought,  _ Is he  _ **_insane_ ** _? _

“Magnus, you’re on Casper duty.” Lup declared.

“Aww,  _ what, _ ” Magnus complained.

“You  _ literally died _ like a  _ week _ ago.” 

“I know, but still!” Magnus said. 

“Just go talk with Ms. Ghost-a-lot.” Taako sounded annoyed. “Barold? Lup? Let’s go.” 

“Make sure she’s okay,” Lup told Magnus before following Taako up the stairs. 

“I’m going to check our inventory,” Davenport said and Lucretia heard him head down to the storage room. 

“Casper?” Magnus called and Lucretia fought the urge to jump out of the vents and hug the man. 

“You died,” she said instead. She tried to stay steady, but her voice shook. Magnus took a deep breath. Lucretia heard his bed creak as he sat down on it. 

“I got better?” 

“You  _ died _ .” She said her voice an octave higher than normal. “What  _ happened _ , Magnus?” 

There was a long beat of silence and Lucretia wondered if Magnus had fallen asleep. She wouldn’t blame him, the way everyone had been grilling him for the past week. 

“I got into a fight I couldn’t win,” He said, finally. 

“We aren’t going back to the IPRE, are we?” Lucretia said, and Magnus didn’t say anything. Lucretia felt her stomach drop. “Magnus,  _ please _ .” 

“We haven’t been able to figure out… how?” She heard him shift in the bed. “It’s hard to explain.” 

“ _ Try, _ ” Lucretia begged. “Please.” 

“Casper I -- when we left our home, this. Thing. This big black thing attacked it. It- It  _ ate _ our plane. We had to escape, and we did, and we tried to go back to the prime material plane but --” 

“It was the animal plane.” Lucretia finished. 

“Right.” He answered. “Our home is  _ gone _ , Casper. We don’t know if it’s gone forever, but we can’t get back to it. And the same thing happened to the last plane.” 

Lucretia felt like the vents were crushing, and trapping her. Her family, her home, _everything_? Gone?   
The worst part was she couldn’t see an end to her ‘haunting’ _._ If Magnus was right and they couldn’t get back to their home plane, when would this stop? If she made a brave move and revealed herself, Davenport would definitely kick her out. She’d already heard Taako complain about rations. Davenport didn’t like her already. She couldn’t see anything good coming out of revealing herself. 

She had to run. But run where? She had no idea if this plane was safe. She didn’t have any survival skills. She couldn’t even cook for her family at  _ home, _ what was she supposed to do for herself on a strange plane?

Magnus interrupted her panic-stricken thoughts. “Casper, it’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out. And in the meantime, we have each other!” 

“R-Right. Thank you for telling me.” Lucretia said. 

They found the Light quickly. Apparently, this plane was uninhabited. There were plants and animals (unintelligent ones, thank the gods), so they weren’t in danger of starving. But once the winter months rolled around Lucretia heard a conversation that made her worry. 

“Okay, we should have enough food for  _ us _ to make it through the winter,” Taako said.

“Okay?” Magnus said eyeing him confused.

“Magnus, you can’t feed Casper anymore.” 

“ _ What _ ? Taako, that’s not fair!” Magnus said. 

“Look. The fact of the matter is, she’s a ghost, and she doesn’t  _ need _ to eat.” Taako said. 

The danger of her position slammed Lucretia in the face. 

“Taako that’s not fair. She --” 

“Look, if it makes you shut up, she can have our leftovers. But we can’t afford to give her three full meals every day.” 

“It’s okay, Magnus,” Lucretia said. “He’s right.” 

Could she survive on this plane during the winter? There wasn’t any shelter. And she doesn’t know how to cook. Her hunting skills were mediocre at best. Her best bet was to just deal with whatever leftovers Magnus leaves for her. She didn’t eat a lot in the first place so she’d be fine. “I’ll be okay with little bits. I’m usually just snacky anyways.” 

“See, even Ghosty herself agrees with me!” 

This winter was going to be hell. 

 

***********

 

She wasn’t entirely wrong, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as she’d thought. Magnus was a lot more generous with the food he shared with her than she anticipated. It was still hard though. Even half a meal was still only a little bit of food. Lucretia started doing the dishes and making sure the kitchen was clean at night if only to distract herself from how hungry she was. The winter crawled by and she found herself mulling over giving up the ruse. But… no. They didn’t have enough rations for seven people, and they couldn’t afford to allow her to stay. It was fine. It was  _ safer _ for her to just stay in the vents. 

***********

By the time the spring rolled around she had gotten used to the small rations. When Magnus started leaving out full meals for her again she couldn’t even finish one. Which was probably for the best. She’d be less of a burden on them this way. Less likely for them to find her. And less likely for her to get kicked out. She wrapped up the extra meals and stuck them in the fridge. 

“Didn’t want the food?” Lup asked and Lucretia shrugged, thankful for someone to talk to. She stopped sleeping a while ago. She had been writing everything down, trying to find a way to stay. She hadn’t found one yet. 

And the light cantrip she learned ages ago was dangerous to use too much. Every time she fell asleep she woke up terrified that Davenport or someone else had decided to clean the vents. So she avoided sleep until she passed out from exhaustion. 

“Wasn’t hungry,” She answered the elf. “What’re you guys doing today?” 

******

She must have been sleeping when Davenport kicked on the air conditioning. 

She had stolen blankets from the storage the year before, but even wrapped in them she was freezing. Her nose started running about two days later. As if it wasn’t hard enough to sleep as is. Her entire face started hurting after about a week. And it was cold. And her entire  _ body _ ached. She was  _ fine _ though. Just exhausted on all levels. Maybe some sleep would help? If she could actually  _ sleep _ instead of just lying on her back trying to breathe through her nose. 

After two weeks of this aching, she stopped coming out of the vents. It was hard to eat when everything that she ate came back up an hour later. She was lucky she hadn’t been caught yet. She couldn’t afford to eat. And it took energy that she didn’t have to crawl out of the vents. So she just curled up and prayed for sleep. 

“You know we could have gone ghostbusters on your ass, right?” Taako announced to the empty kitchen. Lucretia pulled herself into the real world and made a noise of confusion. “We’ve just been nice cuz you’ve been doing the dishes,” Taako sounded more irritated than undone dishes warranted,  but she couldn’t be certain. Her brain was foggy and her entire body ached, it was hard to pay attention to anything. “And another thing! You’re wasting my cooking! Maggie keeps leaving it out and he won’t let anyone else eat it!” 

Lucretia said “Sorry,” as loudly as she could, voice hoarse, and tried to go back to sleep. How long had she been in the vents? Gods above everything hurt. She didn’t put much further thought into it. She tried to smother a cough. Taako went silent, but Lucretia was too out of it to notice.

* * *

 

“Hey, Lulu?” Taako walked into their shared room, where Lup was flipping through one of her spell books.   
“Yeah Koko, what’s up?” She flicked her wand and mouthed the words to the incantation, not looking up from the book.

“You know about ghostly shit right?” 

“I mean. Barry is more into it than I am but yeah. Why?” Taako paused for a long moment, and Lup frowned, closing the book to look up at her brother. “‘Ko?” 

“Do ghosts cough?” He said finally and Lup’s frown deepened. 

Lup wrinkled her nose. “No? They shouldn’t, they don’t have lungs. Why?”  She went silent at the sound of someone coughing. 

“Yeah.” Taako put his hands on his hips. 

"Casper?" Lup said, standing up, "You good?" 

"Hmm?" Casper said before dissolving into a hacking cough, “Y-yeah I'm f-fi-" She couldn't even finish her statement, the harsh racking coughing echoed through the ship.  

“Yeah, she’s not fine,” Lup decided already making her way out of her room and running down the hall towards Magnus’s 

“Magnus! Wake up!” Taako kicked open the bodyguard’s door. “The ghost is sick.” But the room was empty. 

Lup leaned over her brother’s shoulder. “Where’d he go?” 

“How should I know?” Taako said his face scrunched up in confusion. More coughing.

“She doesn’t sound good.”  Lup flicked her ears and looked at her brother. They held eye contact for a moment and Lup spun on her heel, smacking her brother with her hair before sprinting up the stairs. “Merle!” She shouted, reaching the top of the stairs. Magnus was standing over Merle. “Merle, we need your help. Casper’s sick.” 

Merle groaned.

“Not you too!” 

“Lup! You heard her coughing too? She wouldn’t answer me and I’m  _ really _ worried. But Merle won’t listen to me!” Magnus said.

“I want to help! She’s my friend too! I just  _ don’t know how to heal ghosts. _ ” Merle said holding his arms up 

“Guys? What’s going on?” Barry called from the bridge. 

“Barry!” Lup called waving him down and waited until the middle-aged man made his way to their side. “Casper’s sick.” 

“That’s not possible.” Barry frowned, “She didn’t get sick last year.” 

“Last year we fed her.” Magnus glared pointedly at Taako. 

“She shouldn’t  _ need _ food!” Taako protested, throwing his hands out defensively. “She’s a  _ ghost _ .” 

Magnus scoffed and Taako said, “In case you forgot,  _ she  _ said it would be fine!” 

“Ghosts don’t get sick unless they  _ died _ sick, and even then they’re usually  _ always _ sick,” Barry said.

“Merle, you have to at least  _ try. _ Have you heard her? She sounds like she’s dying!” Lup said.

“I  _ can’t! _ ” Merle waved his hands around his head frustratedly. 

“You know what I think,” Davenport seemingly appeared out of nowhere, “We’re all talking about how the ghost is sick and how it’s impossible for a ghost to be sick. Did anyone stop and consider whether or not Casper is actually a ghost?” 

No one said anything for a long minute. Taako broke the silence. “You can’t be serious, Captain, why would someone-” 

Davenport snapped, “I don’t know! But it’s the only thing that makes sense.” He noticed Taako flinch back and sighed. “Just go find her. She’s obviously on the ship. I mean, how else could we hear her.”

Lup and Magnus made eye contact before sprinting down the stairs, followed quickly by Barry. 

“CASPER!” Lup’s fading voice shouted. “Where are you?” Davenport glanced over at Taako, whose ears kept flicking back and forth as he tugged on his indigo hat. 

“Taako-” He tried to comfort the elf but Taako just swatted his hand away. 

“You do realize that if you’re right we almost killed someone.” 

“Well then, let’s hurry up and find her.” He walked down the stairs where Lup and Magnus were arguing with Merle and Barry again, Davenport frowned and shook his head at them. “Would you three shut up and keep looking? Get some perspective guys, we have a dying stowaway.” He said as he started walking down into the storage room. Opening the door he sighed and started digging through their supplies.

“Casper? I know you and I don’t get along. But we’re all very worried about you. Would you  _ please _ tell us where you’re hiding?” He heard the coughing and his tail froze as he looked around carefully. He heard it. It was a specific area of the room, where  _ was _ it--

“Hey Captain, did you find anything?” Taako walked down the stairs and stood in the doorway. 

“Shh.” Davenport held up a hand and made his way towards the noise, flicking his ears forward, listening for more coughing. 

He didn’t have to wait long. She coughed again and Davenport winced. She sounded like she was in so much pain. He pushed a box out of the way and found an entrance to the vents. More coughing and yup. It was definitely coming from the vents. 

“Are you fucking  _ kidding _ me.” He said turning back to Taako. “We are some of our world's best scientists, how the  _ fuck  _ did it take us this long to realize someone was living in our vents?" He faltered when he found Taako gone. “W-Where-” He noticed the vent open, “Taako!” 

“Yeah, one sec Dav,” Taako said, his voice echoing in a familiar way as the elf crawled through the vents. Every time he reached a crossroads he waited until she started coughing again and followed the noise. “Couldn’t have just hid next to  _ one _ vent? Fucking hell, what a hassle.” 

“Taako?” Lup yelled and he started, smacking his head. “Did you find her?” 

“She’s in the vents. And if you would shut up I might actually be able to find her!” Taako said. “The things I do for you people, I swear.”

The echoing was very disorienting, so it took him a bit, but he eventually found what could only be described as a  _ nest _ where Casper was curled up. He recognized blankets and clothes stolen from the crew. She was in one of Magnus’s ugly sweaters from the holidays and was using a bag of holding that Taako didn’t recognize as a pillow. 

“Pan’s beard,” He said aloud. She was so… small. Stick thin and barely breathing. Every time she started coughing she looked like she’d shatter. “Okay. Okay just hang in there while I figure out how to get you out.” Taako muttered, looking around for ideas. She was too big to bring out of the vents without dragging her, and that could make things worse. Levitate had similar issues. He made a noise of frustration and noticed her staring at him. Her eyes were glazed over and he was almost certain she wasn’t fully conscious right now. But she reached over and pointed to a journal that had fallen out of her bag before falling back into a coughing fit. 

He grabbed the journal and read the spell she had scribbled on the top of the page.  “Oh, that could work.” Taako lifted her head and took the bag. 

She whimpered a bit before falling back into a hacking cough, and he bit his lip. “I know, I know, just hold on.” He put the journal into the bag before throwing it over his shoulder. “I need to make sure I don’t accidentally shrink your shit instead of you.” 

Taako reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand, casting levitate, raising her up just enough so that she wasn’t touching anything. Then he carefully pulled her towards him, took a deep breath, and cast Reduce. 

*****

“She was in the  _ vents _ ?” Merle sputtered, staring at Davenport from the top of the stairs. 

Davenport finished his hike up the stairs. “Taako’s getting her out now. We need to prepare for the worst so go study your spells.” 

“Is she okay?” Lup shoved past Magnus and Barry who were blocking the pathway in the hallway. 

“Where’s Taako now?” Barry asked after being shoved into the wall by Lup.

“Is she  _ alive _ ?” Magnus said worriedly. 

“I don’t know!” Davenport snapped. “We have to prepare to take care of her, though, and  _ none _ of you are useful just standing around!”

“Got her!” Taako ran up the stairs holding what looked like a small child, and a bag of holding. Davenport paled at the sight of her and Lup looked like she was going to throw up. 

“S-She was a  _ kid _ ?” Lup said, covering her mouth with her hand.

“What?” Taako frowned before glancing down at Lucretia. “Oh no. I-” There was a puff of smoke, and when it cleared it revealed Taako struggling to hold up a young woman. Maybe in her early teens at best. Davenport visibly relaxed and Taako let out a struggling cough before Magnus walked over and carefully took the fragile girl from the elf. 

“She looks awful. She can stay in my room. It’ll be more comfortable. I have the most pillows and everything.”  Magnus said and Taako shifted uncomfortably. 

“Good idea, Merle.  _ Fix. This.” _ Taako spun on his heel and entered the kitchen, grabbing a few ingredients from the cupboards. 

Magnus and Merle headed back towards Magnus’s room, carrying Lucretia. Lup hesitated, glancing at Taako and then at the young girl in Magnus’s arms. 

“She’ll be fine. She has Merle.” Barry glanced over at Taako who had slammed his hat into the ground. “He needs you right now.” 

“I know,” Lup said before walking to her twin’s side. 

Barry followed Magnus and Merle, and Davenport walked towards the Twins. 

“I’m  _ fine, _ ” Taako said shoving ingredients into a pot as Lup approached him. “Lup. I’m  _ fine _ .” 

“I know,” Lup said softly as she wrapped her arms around her brother. “But I’m not.” 

“Oh...” He flicked his ears down, staring at the half stirred pot of ingredients. 

Davenport said, “She’s going to need food if she wants any chance of getting better. Soft foods. Probably soups. Things that will be easy on the stomach that we can help her eat. We can worry about other foods when she’s conscious again.” 

Taako stared at him uncomprehendingly, and he sighed, flicking his tail. “Merle can likely heal the cold. We can’t do anything about her malnutrition until she starts eating again.” 

The pieces shifted together and Lup reached over and handed her brother a spoon.

“So let’s get cooking.” 


End file.
